Riverside County CA Archives History - Books .....Sherman Institute 1912
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Book Title: History Of Riverside County California

CHAPTER XII.
SHERMAN INSTITUTE 
By E. W. Holmes

   One of the conspicuous features of Riverside, of which her citizens are
proud, is the great government Indian school located on Magnolia avenue in the
Arlington section. The name was given it as a tribute to the late Vice-President
Sherman, a warm friend of the American Indian, who was at the time of its
organization the chairman of the congressional committee on Indian affairs.
There had been a school for Indian youth near Perris, which, under the
management of Harwood Hall, had demonstrated the value of such a method of
training the Indian for American citizenship, and when it became evident that
larger accommodations and better surroundings were necessary to carry forward
effectively this splendid philanthropic work, the effort to secure the proposed
larger institution for Riverside had the support of men of national reputation,
like Albert K. Smiley of Redlands, Collis P. Huntington, and others, and of the
California representatives in both houses of congress. The cornerstone of the
first building was laid June 18, 1901, by Hon. A. C. Tanner, assistant
commissioner of Indian affairs, Senator Perkins and others taking part in the
exercises, and in May of the following year nine of the buildings were
completed, and the enrollment of pupils began. The school has an. enrollment in
1912 of 631 pupils, who hail from twelve states and represent fifty-five tribes.
The management of Harwood Hall, and of his successor, Frank M. Conser, has been
admirable, and the character and acquirements of the graduates who have gone out
from Sherman Institute to take their places among other American citizens
furnishes the strongest possible evidence of the sensible and thoroughly
practical training given them. That the climate and other advantages claimed for
the location by those who urged it is evidenced by the report made by
Superintendent Conser at the end of the tenth year of its existence, when he
says: "The school is located in the midst of people of the highest culture and
refinement, and the student of Sherman Institute is fortunate in his fight for
character and education to be surrounded by such influences. There has not been
a liquor saloon in the city for many years, and the sympathy of the entire
community is with the Indian boy and girl. In fact, a more favorable environment
could not be found for an educational institution than Riverside." The school
grounds proper contain forty acres, beautiful with lawns and walks and
ornamental trees, amid which are located thirty-five buildings of the Mission
style of architecture. Adjoining is Chemawa Park, furnishing ample space for
field sports. Few colleges have buildings and surroundings more beautiful than
those of Sherman Institute.

   The course of study provided carries the student through the eighth grade,
and those who desire can enter the high school or business college of Riverside.
But the industrial courses are placed upon an equal plane with the academic. The
boys are taught carpentry, blacksmithing, printing and other trades, and the
girls trained in sewing, general housekeeping, laundry work and nursing. The
Indian children gathered here have shown a special aptitude for music, and the
girls' mandolin club and the boys' brass band have always ranked high in a
musical way.

   Four miles below the school proper the government has a hundred-acre farm,
well equipped, where the students are given training as regular farmers, and in
dairying and vegetable growing. The vegetables, butter and milk produced supply
the needs in this direction of the entire school. The farm has a value of some
$75,000, and its products in 1912 amounted to $8,379. The total value of the
land, buildings and equipment of the school and farm doubtless exceeds $450,000.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF
Riverside County
CALIFORNIA
WITH
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified With Its Growth and Development From
the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
ELMER WALLACE HOLMES
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 
1912


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